M.Z. Mohd Yusoff

Plasma-assisted MBE of GaN pn-junction Grown on Si(111) Substrate

We investigated growth of GaN pn-junction layers grown on silicon(111) by plasma-assisted molecular beam epitaxy system and its application for photo-devices. Si and Mg were used as n- and p-dopants, respectively. The reflection high energy electron diffraction images indicated a good surface morphology of GaN pn-junction layer. The thickness of GaN pn-junctions layers was about 0.705 nm. The absence of cubic phase GaN showed that this layer possessed hexagonal structure. According to XRD symmetric rocking curve ω/2θ scans of (0002) plane at room temperature, the full width at half-maximun of GaN pn-junction sample was calculated as 0.34°, indicating a high quality layer of GaN pn-junction. Surprisingly, there was no quenching of the A(LO) peak, with the presence of Si- and Mg-dopants in sample. The pn-junctions sample has a good optical quality which was measured by the photoluminescence system. For photo-devices applications, Ni and Al were used as front and back contacts, respectively. The current-voltage characteristics of the devices showed the typical rectifying behavior of heterojunction. The photo-current measurement was performed using a visible-lamp under forward and reverse biases. From the temperature-dependent measurements, the current at low bias exhibited much stronger temperature dependence and weaker field dependence. The effect of thermal annealing on front contact Ni was also carried out. The front contact Ni was annealed at 400 and 600 °C for 10 min in the nitrogen ambient. The results showed that 600 °C treated sample had a higher gain at 1.00 V/e than 400 °C treated and untreated samples.

Fabrication of aluminum nitride heterostructures on Si (1 1 1) substrate by plasma-assisted MBE

The aluminum nitride (AlN) heterostructures were successfully grown on silicon substrate by plasma-assisted molecular beam epitaxy. The surface morphology and structural and optical properties of the sample have been investigated by reflection high electron diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), energy dispersive X-ray, high-resolution X-ray diffraction (HR-XRD), Raman spectroscopy, and photoluminescence, respectively. HR-XRD measurement showed that the sample has a typical diffraction pattern of hexagonal AlN/GaN/AlN heterostructures. The Schottky characteristic of Pt contact on AlN/GaN/AlN heterostructures was also investigated under different annealing temperatures in nitrogen ambient. The temperature dependence and structural evolution of the Schottky barrier height (SBH) of Pt contacts were studied using the current–voltage measurement and FESEM, respectively. Our findings presented that the SBH of the samples change with different annealing temperatures.

Effect of thermal annealing on GaN pn-junction diode with Pt/Ag as ohmic contact

In this paper, the effect of thermal annealing on gallium nitride (GaN) pn-junction photodiode grown on Si(1 1 1) by RF-plasma assisted molecular beam epitaxy is described. Platinum (Pt) and silver (Ag) were used as ohmic contact for GaN pn-junction photodetector. The structural evolution and temperature dependence of the current of Pt/Ag contacts on GaN pn-junction at various annealing were investigated by scanning electron microscopy, atomic force microscopy, high resolution X-ray diffraction, and current–voltage (I–V) measurements, respectively. The temperature dependence of the current may be attributed to changes of the surface morphology and surface roughness of Pt/Ag contacts on the sample. The lower surface roughness was achieved at thermal annealing temperature of 700 °C.

The investigation of Al0.29Ga0.71N/GaN/AlN and AlN/GaN/AlN thin films grown on Si (111) by RF plasma-assisted MBE

Recently, gallium nitride (GaN) and its related compounds involving Al and In have attracted much attention because of their potential to be used as high-efficiency UV light emitting devices, and as high frequency and high power electronic devices. Consequently, the growth and physics of GaN-based materials have attracted remarkable scientific attention. In this work, the growth and characterization of epitaxial Al0.29Ga0.71N and AlN layers grown on Si (111) by RF-plasma assisted molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) are described. The Al mole fraction was derived from the HR-XRD symmetric rocking curve (RC) ω/2θ scans of (0002) plane as x = 0.29. For AlN/GaN/AlN sample, the maximum Raman intensity at 521.53 cm−1 is attributed to crystalline silicon. It was found that the allowed Raman optical phonon mode of GaN, the E1 (high) is clearly visible, which is located at 570.74 cm−1. Photoluminscence (PL) spectrums of both samples have shown sharp and intense band edge emission of GaN without the existence of yellow em...

The Fabrication of Ag Islands on AlN/GaN/AlN/Si(111) by Using Thermal Evaporator and Thermal Annealing Methods

In this paper, we studied growth of AlN/GaN/AlN on Si (111) by using plasma assisted molecular beam epitaxy (PA-MBE) system. The structural and optical characteristics of the sample have been investigated by using high resolution X-ray diffraction (HR-XRD), Raman spectroscopy and photoluminescence (PL). PL spectrum of the sample has shown sharp and intense band edge emission of GaN with the absence of yellow emission band, indicating good crystal quality of the sample. The silver (Ag) metal contact was then deposited on the sample followed by thermal treatment at 500°C and 700°C, respectively. Treated sample at 700°C showed good spherical Ag islands on sample compared to the treated sample at 500°C. The effect of Ag islands on the electrical characteristics of sample was also examined by using I-V measurement. The results showed that the treated sample at 700°C has decreased the photo-current of Schottky diode.

THE STUDIES OF THERMAL ANNEALING ON Pt/AlGaN GROWN ON Si(111) BY PLASMA-ASSISTED MOLECULAR BEAM EPITAXY (PA-MBE)

The application of thermal annealing at various annealing temperatures (473–1073 K) has been shown to significantly modify surface morphology of platinum (Pt) metal contacts on AlGaN/GaN/AlN heterostructure grown on silicon by plasma-assisted molecular beam epitaxy (PA-MBE). Structural analysis of the AlGaN/GaN samples used for the Pt Schottky contacts fabrication were performed by using high resolution X-ray diffraction (HR-XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The Pt metal contacts were then deposited on the samples followed by current–voltage (I–V) characterization. Thermally-treated samples showed significant decrease in current compared with untreated samples. From the I–V measurements, the Schottky barrier height (SBH) and ideality factor (n) were calculated. We found that the lowest value of SBH obtained was 0.526 eV at 873 K annealing temperature. Unfortunately, there are no values for the SBH and ideality factor at 1073 K annealing temperature. The SEM analysis has shown some island formation at high annealing temperature due to the difference of surface energies between thin metal films and AlGaN that causes dewetting. We suggest that the reason for the barrier height reduction is due to the metal island formation on the samples.

Ni/Ag Schottky contacts on Al0.11Ga0.89N grown on Si (1 1 1) substrate by plasma-assisted MBE

Al0.11Ga0.89N/GaN samples are grown by plasma-assisted molecular beam epitaxy method on (1 1 1) silicon substrates. High purity gallium (7N) and aluminum (6N5) were used to grow Al0.11Ga0.89N, GaN, and AlN, respectively. The surface morphology, structural and optical properties of the sample has been investigated by scanning electron microscope (SEM), and high-resolution X-ray diffraction (HR-XRD), respectively. HR-XRD measurement showed that the sample has a typical diffraction pattern of hexagonal Al0.11Ga0.89N/GaN heterostructures. Ni/Ag bilayers are deposited on Al0.11Ga0.89N as the Schottky contacts. The effect of annealing in oxygen ambient on the electrical properties of Ni/Ag/Al0.11Ga0.89N is studied by current–voltage measurement. The annealing at a temperature of 700 °C for 10 min results in an increase in the ideality factor from 1.033 to 1.042 and an increase in the Schottky barrier height from 0.708 to 0.811 eV. Furthermore, the annealing in oxygen ambient also leads to an increase in the surface roughness of the contacts from 0.0098 to 0.1360 μm which is in agreement with the SEM results.

THE STUDY OF Al0.29Ga0.71N-BASED SCHOTTKY PHOTODIODES GROWN ON SILICON BY PLASMA-ASSISTED MOLECULAR BEAM EPITAXY

In this paper, the growth and characterization of epitaxial Al0.29Ga0.71N grown on Si(111) by RF-plasma assisted molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) are described. The Al mole fraction was derived from the HR-XRD symmetric rocking curve (RC) ω/2θ scans of (0002) plane as x = 0.29. PL spectrum of sample has shown sharp and intense band edge emission of GaN without the existence of yellow emission band, showing that it is comparable in crystal quality of the sample when compared with previous reports. From the Raman measurement of as-grown Al0.29Ga0.71N layer on GaN/AlN/Si sample. We found that the dominant E2 (high) phonon mode of GaN appears at 572.7 cm-1. The E2 (high) mode of AlN appears at 656.7 cm-1 and deviates from the standard value of 655 cm-1 for unstrained AlN. Finally, AlGaN Schottky photodiode have been fabricated and analyzed by mean of electrical characterization, using current–voltage (I–V) measurement to evaluate the performance of this device.

FABRICATION OF GaN HOMO-JUNCTION ON Si (111) SUBSTRATE FOR SENSOR APPLICATIONS

In this paper, we investigated growth of GaN pn-homo junction layers on silicon (111) by plasma-assisted molecular beam epitaxy (PA-MBE) system and its application for photo-sensors. Silicon (Si) and magnesium (Mg) were used in this study as n- and p-dopants, respectively. Structural and optical analysis of the GaN homo-junction samples were performed by using reflection high energy electron diffraction (RHEED), X-ray diffraction (XRD), Raman spectroscopy and photoluminescence (PL) to analyze the crystalline quality of the samples. Surprisingly, the Raman analysis has revealed that there is no quenching of the A1 (LO) peak, with the presence of Si- and Mg-dopants in sample. The pn-junctions sample has good optical quality as measured by the PL system. Electrical characterization of the photo-sensors was carried out by using current–voltage (I–V) measurements.

Structural and optical studies of GaN pn-junction with AlN buffer layer grown on Si (111) by RF plasma enhanced MBE

GaN pn-junction grown on silicon substrates have been the focus in a number of recent reports and further effort is still necessary to improve its crystalline quality for practical applications. GaN has the high n-type background carrier concentration resulting from native defects commonly thought to be nitrogen vacancies. In this work, we present the growth of pn-junction of GaN on Si (111) substrate using RF plasma-enhanced molecular beam epitaxy (MBE). Both of the layers show uniformity with an average thickness of 0.709 μm and 0.095 μm for GaN and AlN layers, respectively. The XRD spectra indicate that no sign of cubic phase of GaN are found, so it is confirmed that the sample possessed hexagonal structure. It was found that all the allowed Raman optical phonon modes of GaN, i.e. the E2 (low), E1 (high) and A1 (LO) are clearly visible.